


I know it's hard sometimes to see the light (But you and I keep on dreamin')

by Sleepyhyuckie



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Driving, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Leaving Home, M/M, Nostalgia, Post-Graduation, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sweet Mark Lee (NCT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 07:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20239111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepyhyuckie/pseuds/Sleepyhyuckie
Summary: High school. To some, it’s the best four years of their lives. To some, its the worst. Your view can depend on your social status, friends, etc. Yet, both sides seem to agree on one simple fact. It goes by fast. Nervous glances at freshman orientation turn into shaky breaths taken at senior graduation. Right as the caps go flying in the air and it finally hits you. You’re leaving this town. You’re leaving all you’ve ever known. You’re leaving behind the people that hated you, that loved you, that didn’t even know you exist. It’s over. Four years. All over in a blink of a eye.-Highschool Graduation AU where Donghyuck and Mark come to terms with leaving the town that they grew up in and leaving all they've ever known.





	I know it's hard sometimes to see the light (But you and I keep on dreamin')

**Author's Note:**

> * Title taken from NCT Dream's Fireflies  
* My love for all those reading and leaving kudos and comments. Thank you <3

High school. To some, it’s the best four years of their lives. To some, its the worst. Your view can depend on your social status, friends, etc. Yet, both sides seem to agree on one simple fact. It goes by fast. Nervous glances at freshman orientation turn into shaky breaths taken at senior graduation. Right as the caps go flying in the air and it finally hits you. You’re leaving this town. You’re leaving all you’ve ever known. You’re leaving behind the people that hated you, that loved you, that didn’t even know you exist. It’s over. Four years. All over in a blink of an eye.

\---

Donghyuck didn’t sleep the night before graduation. His gaze was glued to his phone, his mind somewhere else entirely. He was absentmindedly switching between social media accounts and when the notifications slowly stopped trickling in, he turns his attention to his window. In the early days of June, the window was to be propped open at all times, in hollow hopes of capturing even the slightest breeze that swept in from time to time. The night was no exception as Donghyuck found himself watch his curtains barely flutter from the warm incoming air. 

There was no spectacle that night. There was no raging storm threatening to shake down his house like the night of Jisung’s Sweet Sixteen. There was no masterful display of falling stars like the night before Jeno asked him to Prom. No, it was a quiet and peaceful night. A perfect juxtaposition to the bundle of black nerves broiling in Donghyuck’s stomach. 

Tomorrow was his, Renjun’s, Jaemin’s, Jeno’s, and Mark’s graduation from high school. The day after would be a normal summer day at the lake with the five of them along with Chenle and Jisung. The seven of them would spend the day ignoring the fact that this summer was most likely going to be the last time they were all together for a little while. They would ignore the fact that Chenle and Jisung were going back to school feeling so lost without their brothers. They would go out on Jaemin’s family’s boat and do stupid flips and get yelled at by Renjun for being too reckless. Donghyuck would run up behind him and both would plummet into the water, both emerging with red faces from laughing and screaming. Jeno would roll his eyes and grab the first aid kit. Mark would shake his head and laugh, maybe with a bit of sadness in his eyes.

These scenarios would rinse and repeat until the days came where their seven became six and then five and finally end up with the youngest two sobbing as their last hyung drove off to somewhere new. Somewhere alone. 

Donghyuck’s heart squeezed at the thought of leaving their youngest at the claws of the cruelest beast: growing up. He had known Jisung since his birth, they were cousins and Jisung might as well have been his brother with how little time they spent apart. Chenle joined a little while later along the way when he and Renjun had moved in during the beginning of middle school. But Jisung had become Chenle’s best friend and Renjun had become one of Donghyuck’s.

He never wanted to think of a life where he couldn’t call Renjun while upset and have him show up only 15 minutes later with mozzarella sticks. But, he had to learn to get used to it. And he hated it. With everything in him, he hated it. One of his most favorite people that ever existed was going to a fancy art school miles and miles away from his dance academy and his heart broke a little bit more every time he thought about it. 

The sun slowly crept over the horizon, as if it were hesitant to leave as well, and Donghyuck decided to get up and get ready. He counted to ten and stretched. He watched the pinks and purples of the sky bloom for a bit before starting the day he had dreaded so much.

Donghyuck didn’t remember getting into his parents’ car. He didn’t remember donning his gown and accepting the diploma he worked so hard for. 

The morning was a blur of sad smiles and excited hugs. Caps flew in the air and the shutter of cameras overloaded Donghyuck’s senses. It was all over. Just like that.

\----

\----

Mark leaves tomorrow. His Mark Lee with the big, brown eyes and jokes no one would ever admit were funny was to leave for Toronto tomorrow. In an effort to evade the sadness that was soon to envelop, Donghyuck cracked as many jokes possible about Mark becoming a big shot music producer and finally being able to give Donghyuck the designer shoes he so apparently deserved. 

They were seated in Mark’s giant black truck and driving quietly around town. It was barely evening and they had already finished the errands Mark’s mother had given them. There was some conversation but most of their trip had just been silence. But not an awkward silence. No, it was a comfortable silence that had nestled into the car. 

Then and there, It suddenly hit Donghyuck. This had been the first time that he and Mark had hung out. Alone. For longer than half an hour. The was always a third person or their entire group of friends crammed into the back of Mark’s car. To Donghyuck, it was a strange concept to process.

Besides Jisung, Mark was the one he had known the longest as they lived across the street from each other since adolescence. The two of them were always forced to go on the same playdates and eventually had been the best of friends before Jisung was old enough to play with them. Then, Mark joined the little league and he met Jeno and unintentionally made their trio into a quartet. Dismissing the hot summer practices spent in the batting cage, Donghyuck chose to pursue dance and met Jaemin and soon they were five. Sometime in middle school, Renjun and Chenle met them along the way and their group of seven was secure. 

Mark and Donghyuck hadn’t really drifted apart. They still saw each other every day and sent dumb memes to each other as ass o’clock every night. Mark had watched Donghyuck become Haechan, as he’s known to most of their classmates, the school’s MC and general mood maker. He watched as the baby fat melted away and Donghyuck had become a leaner and stronger dancer. Dongyuck had watched Mark grow into his long and awkward pre-teen limbs. He watched as his eyes became dreamier and face more angular and sharp. But, Mark didn’t watch Donghyuck cry over his first crush. No, Jaemin and Chenle did. Donghyuck wasn’t there for when Mark had his first kiss and couldn’t contain himself with the news. No, Jeno and Jisung were. They were still the closest of friends, yet somehow, something was lost a little along the way.

These things come with the pains of growing older and Dongyuck understood that. Yet, he knew that his Mark Hyung was still there and dependable as ever and he hoped Mark felt the same way about him.

The sun was beginning to set but the conversation was picking up about how they used to hang out in the park and push each other in the swings. Donghyuck was still giggling over the memory of Mark crying when Donghyuck had fallen and scraped his knees because Mark pushed him too high in a bid for the younger to touch the sky. The two of them were waiting at the stoplight in front of their neighborhood when Donghyuck felt the air in the car become tense and Mark halted speaking. The younger took a glance over at him and his eyes widened. 

_ He’s biting his nails. He only does that when he’s thinking too hard. _

Donghyuck didn’t want to interrupt Mark’s thought process so he quieted as well. 

This quiet was different. It was uncomfortably heavy and Donghyuck felt helpless as he started to feel like he did something wrong. Mark was refusing to look in his direction and before Donghyuck could open his mouth, the dying sunlight illuminated Mark’s face and revealed the culprit of the sudden silence. 

Mark Lee was crying. 

Donghyuck could not recall a time when he had seen Mark cry except when they were at the swings. He had been five and Mark only a year older. The emotions from finally leaving behind everyone and everything must’ve finally overwhelmed him. No one has seen Mark cry in the last decade. 

So naturally, Donghyuck panicked. 

He whipped his head around to look at Mark and gaped as the tears continued to escape down the slopes of the older’s face. 

“Mark? Are you alright?”

There was no verbal response but Mark nodded and Donghyuck watched as more tears gathered in the corner of Mark’s eyes. By this time, they were parked at their last destination: Donghyuck’s house. 

“Mark, everything will be ok! We can still video chat the others and come back on breaks! It’s like we never left.” He tried his best to reassure Mark but it seemed to no avail as his face became redder and more tears fell. Donghyuck’s eyes widened in surprise as Mark even shook his head at the words.

Before he could get another word out, he watched Mark finger a keychain on his lanyard. It was a little plush lion that the younger had gotten him on a family trip to the zoo. When Donghyuck gifted it to him, the older laughed and proclaimed it as his new lucky charm. 

For the second time that day, realization hit Donghyuck like a speeding truck.

“Oh, Mark. You’re thinking about leaving me aren’t you?” It was almost audible with how hard Donghyuck’s heart shattered as he watched Mark Lee, the rock of their group, hiccup through the tears, and nod. 

“We’ve been together for so long. I mean, I’ve literally seen your face everyday for over fifteen years. I don’t know what to do in all honesty.” Mark’s smile was watery as he glanced at Donghyuck.

“Let me just sit here with you for a little while longer and process things. I’m going to miss you so much.”

Sighing loudly, Donghyucked leaned back in his seat and chuckled. 

“Mark, I’m still going to be here, ya know? I’ll always respond and we can still see each other during breaks. You’re one of my best friends. You can’t be giving up on this friendship, on me, already.”

Donghyuck couldn’t bear to sit there and do nothing so he reached across the console and softly brushed away the tear making its way down the older’s cheek. 

He ignored the feelings swimming in his heart like he ignored the feeling of Mark’s breathing hitch and focused on the softness of his cheek and warmness of the skin. The sun was shining in just the right way that made Mark’s teary eyes into molten chocolate and Donghyuck felt like melting. 

“Would you like to hear a secret? I think it’ll make you feel better,” He paused to give the older time to respond. Mark shakily nodded, “I used to have the biggest crush on you in middle school.”

“N-no! You-you’re s-serious?” Donghyuck nodded hesitantly as Mark struggled to hiccup through his words. “Th-there’s n-n-no way. You’re onl-only s-saying that to m-make me f-f-feel be-better!”

Mark wasn’t wrong. He was just saying that in hopes to aid the older’s spout of sadness, however, Donghyuck wasn’t lying. He really had a huge crush on Mark from around the time Mark went from him nagging and awkward hyung from next door to his nagging and ** _hot_ ** hyung from next door. Donghyuck wasn’t sure when he decided to squash down his feelings. _ Maybe around the beginning of sophomore year? _ He hadn’t wanted to ruin things with Mark and in turn, ruin things with their friend group. 

“I thought you were the most attractive thing I had laid eyes on since I saw those Gucci sneakers at the mall. You were so caring and strong. I was halfway in love with you.” His cheeks were definitely burning by then, but Mark had paused in crying so he supposes it’s worth it.

As a matter of fact, Mark had paused moving. His hyung was just staring at his hands as they lay limp in his lap. The only noises in the truck were the air conditioning and the occasional sniffle coming from Mark. _ Oh no, did I go too far? Right before he’s supposed to leave to? Jesus, I shouldn’t have said anything. Shit. _

“What about now?” 

He had gotten used to the silence in the car so Mark’s voice was almost deafening. Taken aback, Donghyuck sat up straight and almost got whiplash with how quickly his head turned. He wasn’t expecting to meet Mark’s eyes, boring holes into Donghyuck’s skull with the intensity of his gaze.

“Wh-what?” He managed to choke out before he realized the gravity of the situation. Clearing his throat, he uttered, “What do you mean?”

“Donghyuck Lee, are you still in love with me? Am I still the hottest thing you’ve seen since that pair of Gucci sneakers?” Donghyuck was dreaming. This was all an elaborate dream and he was going to hear his phone go off with the alarm in a few minutes. This was not real. His favorite hyung did not just ask he was still as hot as a pair of stupid designer shoes. 

_ (Yes and yes.) _

The sun was disappearing over the horizon yet Donghyuck’s face was feeling hotter than ever as he reached over and boldly took hold of Mark’s hand. The older let him hold his hand and waited for him to reply. Instead, Donghyuck looked forward and let his gaze trace over the familiar curves and lines of the place he grew up. 

The corner of their street where they waited to ride the bus every day still had the same pinkish-red stop sign, the color faded from so many years exposed to the California sun.

Mrs. Na’s mailbox was still crooked from when Jaemin was first learning how to reverse park. (They all got an earful just for standing by and laughing rather than getting an adult first.) The chains of the swings at their childhood park were rusted and yet, still held up for the next generation of children to pass through this town. Their town. 

This town was the town that made Donghyuck. It was the town that made them all and forced them all to find each other. It was where he got his first black eye when he found out that Jisung was being picked on by the other kids for being different and Donghyuck couldn’t bear to watch him suffer. It was where Jeno had lept off the biggest slide at the playground and loudly professed his undying love for “Nana” and Donghyuck had laughed so hard he fell into the pile of leaves Mark had just finished constructing for them all to jump in. 

Donghyuck was to leave all this behind in a week. 

“Mork Lee.” It was unclear as to whether the severity of his tone or the sudden use of his childhood nickname had gotten Mark’s attention but he snapped his focus to Donghyuck as if waiting for the final verdict.

_ Deep breaths. It’s going to be ok. It’s just Mark. _

“It’s true that I liked you for a really long time,” the younger waited and gauged the older’s reaction before continuing, “but, I had to stop because you were also my best friend and I couldn’t ruin things for us. Or the group. I understand if you don’t like me back but I guess it’s only fair if I get this off my chest now. I never stopped liking you. I might even love you.”

The silence was electric as the atmosphere in the car became heated. He was sure that Mark could hear his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. Mark’s face was a mixture of stress. Then, surprise. 

And, hope. 

Before Donghyuck could even dissect the last emotion he saw on Mark’s face, Mark surged forward and gently brought his hands to cradle Donghyuck’s face. 

“Duckie, you are so smart. But, how could you be so dumb.” He even had the audacity to giggle as Donghyuck started to splutter out a response. “Hyuck, I’ve liked you for so long. You don’t even know how happy I was when you compared me to designer shoes.” 

For a heartbeat, they just stared at each other as if too afraid to ruin the moment and wake up from this dream. Then Donghyuck touched Mark’s hands and started laughing and Mark just couldn’t help but join along. 

“Hyuckie, can I kiss you?”

The smile the younger gave the older matched his own and he slowly closed the distance over the dashboard. Their lips touched briefly and softly. The kiss was full of childhood innocence and Donghyuck felt cherry blossoms make their way into his stomach as his eyes fluttered and his senses were flooded by Mark.

Mark’s hands were holding onto him as if he let him go, Donghyuck would disappear forever. Mark’s cologne wrapped itself around Donghyuck’s mind and the only thing rushing through his mind was _ bliss. _

They pulled away, starstruck and disbelieving the tingling sensation that graced their lips and left a searing scar on their hearts. 

Then, Mark pulled Donghyuck back to him and kissed him with a ferocity that Donghyuck rarely saw in Mark. Donghyuck’s hand went to Mark’s hair and they both groaned when Donghyuck tugged hard as Mark nipped at Donghyuck’s bottom lip. This kiss was full of promises to make up lost time and a pact to make it through the uncertain future together. Their first kiss was the soft rains of the first spring. This kiss was the raging monsoon that signaled the beginning of a new era. 

Both gasping for breath, they pulled apart. Childhood love and adult desire swimming in their eyes. Lips swollen and hearts full, twin grins graced both their lips. 

Before anything else could happen, the electricity left the air as both of them seemed to be hit with the same realization and their eyes dimmed a bit.

Mark was leaving tomorrow and Donghyuck would soon be moving to a school hundreds of miles away in a week. 

“What happens, next?” Donghyuck brokenly whispered as he felt tears begin to form.

Mark took Donghyuck’s hand and opened it. He brought it closer to his lips and left a small butterfly kiss in Donghyuck’s palm. 

“I don’t know. But I want to try this. I want to be with you, however longer it takes. I want you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed that. This is a dramatized version of what happened to me. I have yet to graduate high school, however, one of my best friend and I are both leaving our town to go to different schools and it broke both our hearts. Congratulations to all those going on to Uni + college these coming days. Best of luck to you all!  
-  
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I may turn this into a series and write about the dreamies (OT7) dealing with post-graduation sadness.  
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Kudos are appreciated and comments even more! Thank you again!


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